Site SJ2: San Jose Creek
at Patterson Road

SJ2 is our uppermost site on San Jose Creek. To get there, take the 101 and exit Patterson Rd. Take Patterson toward the mountains, and cross over Cathedral Oaks Rd. Continue into the residential neighborhood, and just before a stop sign you will notice that you are on a large bridge crossing over the creek. Park here, cross the street, and climb down the hill under the bridge to the creek.

What is unique about this site?
San Jose Creek receives a lot of attention
because it is the focus of a large restoration
effort. The lower portion of the creek, which
runs along highway 217, has been completely
channelized and is now entirely made of
concrete (our lower sampling site, SJ1, is in this section). By contrast, SJ2 is on a healthier part of the stream that has not been artificially channelized. Unfortunately, however, the creek near SJ2 receives fairly heavy human use from local residents; it has been used heavily in the past as a paintball battlefield and there is often a great deal of trash here.

Results at this site:
We have only been testing this site since the
beginning of 2004, but it is one of the few
sites that has steady flow throughout the year. So far, results here look good. Conductivity is typical for this area, falling between 1200 and 2600 µS. Dissolved oxygen here is high, between 8 and 14 mg/L. pH is on the higher end, but is still well within safe ranges. So far, temperatures here have been well below the 22ºC mark, but it will be interesting to see if the creek can maintain cool temperatures during the hot, low-flow conditions of summer. Turbidity here is low. Bacteria here is good for the most part. Results of Total Coliform and E. Coli tests have always been below safe limits. However, Enterococcus results have exceeded standards in 30% of tests performed. Time will tell whether there is an actual problem here or whether these were just “flukes”.

Go downstream to Site SJ1
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